16.5.4 Origin of the Kelki

As told by Moira:

The seas teemed with beautiful lives, darting among her tides. Long ago had the
Grooks begun to populate the fresh waters, and the folk of fin and scale to
build their kingdom of the deep. Yet the shallows were untouched by intellect,
the reefs deaf to wit. The ocean surged and sprayed, contemplating for ages.

At last, Life and Change met in a stormy froth, creating a new creature to rule
the salted waters. It drowned within moments, fear in its many eyes. The sky
wept with rain for weeks, flooding distant shores with grief. Not long after
did the storms of creation come again, shaping a being of wit and flailing
tentacles, yet it too perished. Again did the skies weep. The tides swelled and
swept, again and again, adjusting and altering until there was one creature
that survived.

"It is repulsive," said the Muse, finding no beauty in their forms. The seas
seemed to agree, for they cast the success away into shadow. The descendants of
this creature would come to name themselves "devi tiyrilisa", meaning the
abandoned ones, and now known simply as "tyrill". Surprise has been expressed
that they lived at all without the love of the waters, and it is suspected that
Another's hand intervened.

One final time did Life and Change converge, seeking skin smooth as the
porpoise and minds sharp as coral. Though they could not breathe the waters of
their Creator, they yet gave to her their worship. The oceans were pleased and
the Muse spoke again, murmuring in Her Sister's ear, "They are lovely."

So it was that the Kelki were born, and began construction on our greatest
work, building a great city beneath the waves in which to research and frolic
in equal measure.